dog stealer?
A week ago exactly, I was walking to uni when just around the corner from my house this cute red heeler pup came up to me and decided he liked me and he would follow me to uni. I checked his collar to see if there was an address on it, but there wasn't, so I kept walking hoping he'd lose interest and go home. Half way to uni I realised this wasn't going to work. So I messaged all my friends in the area to see if they could look after him while I was at uni so I could deal with it later. But none replied.
And I was confused, and concerned, and I didn't want the dog to follow me to class, because he wouldn't be allowed in, and then he'd wander off and get lost in Bundoora and then he'd never get home and it would be all my fault and I'm a horrible person for allowing the dog to follow me in the first place.
So I called up my boyfriend, and proceeded to tell him (almost in tears) exactly what my problem was and what could I do? But he had no suggestions and I was just about to cry when I realised I could call HIS friends, so I hang up and called his best friend who lives just around the corner from uni. And luckily he was awake, and he agreed to look after the dog while I was in class (it was only for one hour) so I didn't have to rock up to class with a dog.
And so I attended class dogless (and told the story to my uni friends) and then went back to pick the dog up, suddenly paranoid that the dog would have run off while I was and he'd still be lost and it would still be my fault.
But he was there when I arrived, and I took him (on a leash this time so he couldn't get lost on the way home). And then just near where I found him, two people came running up saying "You found Hunter! Thank you so much!"
And I was like "Yeah, he followed me to uni" and I let him off the leash feeling self-conscious, because I was sure they were thinking that I'd tried to steal their dog, and I hadn't, and I didn't want a dog - I already have one and one is too much for me to handle on top of two cats - but they didn't know that and if I was a dog-stealer it would be their dog I would steal because he was really well behaved and cute.
But they were polite and thanked me and asked where I lived so they could bring me something to say thank you - but they never did and I didn't blame them.
----
But today I ran into the girl with the dog again on my way to uni.
She saw me and said "hi" and asked "Are you on your way to uni?"
And I answered "Yeah" feeling self-conscious because dealing with anyone I don't know well makes me kind of nervous, and I was fairly sure she still thought I was a dog stealer.
She asked politely "What do you study?"
I replied "Microbiology" and made a cringing movement because the word alone makes me remember how horribly dirty I am.
And she saw the cringe, and questioned "Don't like it?"
I replied honestly, "No, I do! It just makes you horribly paranoid."
"About germs?"
I tried not to cringe about the term 'germ' and nodded instead. "You leave the house and when you touch things you think 'This is going to give me diseases and I'm gonna die and there'll be no treatment - because there's never any treatment' - and then you can't touch anything because you're worried about catching -" and then I tried to think of a disease that was suitable to talk about with people you've only just met, but all my brain could think was 'SYPHILIS!' and you don't talk about Syphilis with normal people - in fact you don't talk about catching diseases with normal people. And then my brain just stopped as it thought "What do you talk about with normal people?" and I couldn't find an answer so there was an awkward silence.
After a moment of searching for something to say, I looked down to see the puppy I saved at my feet and I said "Cute puppy"
And she leapt at the offer to talk and asked "Oh are you a dog person?"
And my brain shouted 'YES A QUESTION I KNOW THE ANSWER TO' but I responded calmly "Yeah I am. I have a dog of my own - a blue heeler pup."
She smiled and asked "At your place?"
And I said "yeah"
She said "That was number 5 right?"
"Number 7" I replied.
"I had a conversation with my friend about whether it was 5 or 7. Because I made some home brew beer and I was planning to bring some round to thank you for finding Hunter"
My brain was like "YAY! FREE BEER" but I responded with "Oh awesome"
She asked "What nights are you at home"
"Most nights"
"Cool. I'll bring some around soon"
"OK" I smiled.
Silence.
And then I made my departure, saying goodbye to Alison and Hunter, and as I walked away I wondered "Does she think I'm strange?" and then I looked down and saw what I was wearing and knew the answer was yes.
Because no sane person wears strippy socks with skulls on them, with a long black and white skirt, and a big baggy leather jacket covering a red Harry Potter t-shirt, with a mans suit hat and biker gloves to uni. At least not in my area...
And I was confused, and concerned, and I didn't want the dog to follow me to class, because he wouldn't be allowed in, and then he'd wander off and get lost in Bundoora and then he'd never get home and it would be all my fault and I'm a horrible person for allowing the dog to follow me in the first place.
So I called up my boyfriend, and proceeded to tell him (almost in tears) exactly what my problem was and what could I do? But he had no suggestions and I was just about to cry when I realised I could call HIS friends, so I hang up and called his best friend who lives just around the corner from uni. And luckily he was awake, and he agreed to look after the dog while I was in class (it was only for one hour) so I didn't have to rock up to class with a dog.
And so I attended class dogless (and told the story to my uni friends) and then went back to pick the dog up, suddenly paranoid that the dog would have run off while I was and he'd still be lost and it would still be my fault.
But he was there when I arrived, and I took him (on a leash this time so he couldn't get lost on the way home). And then just near where I found him, two people came running up saying "You found Hunter! Thank you so much!"
And I was like "Yeah, he followed me to uni" and I let him off the leash feeling self-conscious, because I was sure they were thinking that I'd tried to steal their dog, and I hadn't, and I didn't want a dog - I already have one and one is too much for me to handle on top of two cats - but they didn't know that and if I was a dog-stealer it would be their dog I would steal because he was really well behaved and cute.
But they were polite and thanked me and asked where I lived so they could bring me something to say thank you - but they never did and I didn't blame them.
----
But today I ran into the girl with the dog again on my way to uni.
She saw me and said "hi" and asked "Are you on your way to uni?"
And I answered "Yeah" feeling self-conscious because dealing with anyone I don't know well makes me kind of nervous, and I was fairly sure she still thought I was a dog stealer.
She asked politely "What do you study?"
I replied "Microbiology" and made a cringing movement because the word alone makes me remember how horribly dirty I am.
And she saw the cringe, and questioned "Don't like it?"
I replied honestly, "No, I do! It just makes you horribly paranoid."
"About germs?"
I tried not to cringe about the term 'germ' and nodded instead. "You leave the house and when you touch things you think 'This is going to give me diseases and I'm gonna die and there'll be no treatment - because there's never any treatment' - and then you can't touch anything because you're worried about catching -" and then I tried to think of a disease that was suitable to talk about with people you've only just met, but all my brain could think was 'SYPHILIS!' and you don't talk about Syphilis with normal people - in fact you don't talk about catching diseases with normal people. And then my brain just stopped as it thought "What do you talk about with normal people?" and I couldn't find an answer so there was an awkward silence.
After a moment of searching for something to say, I looked down to see the puppy I saved at my feet and I said "Cute puppy"
And she leapt at the offer to talk and asked "Oh are you a dog person?"
And my brain shouted 'YES A QUESTION I KNOW THE ANSWER TO' but I responded calmly "Yeah I am. I have a dog of my own - a blue heeler pup."
She smiled and asked "At your place?"
And I said "yeah"
She said "That was number 5 right?"
"Number 7" I replied.
"I had a conversation with my friend about whether it was 5 or 7. Because I made some home brew beer and I was planning to bring some round to thank you for finding Hunter"
My brain was like "YAY! FREE BEER" but I responded with "Oh awesome"
She asked "What nights are you at home"
"Most nights"
"Cool. I'll bring some around soon"
"OK" I smiled.
Silence.
And then I made my departure, saying goodbye to Alison and Hunter, and as I walked away I wondered "Does she think I'm strange?" and then I looked down and saw what I was wearing and knew the answer was yes.
Because no sane person wears strippy socks with skulls on them, with a long black and white skirt, and a big baggy leather jacket covering a red Harry Potter t-shirt, with a mans suit hat and biker gloves to uni. At least not in my area...